Every Little Thing
by Shalla Bal
Summary: Struggling to hide their romantic feelings for each other without realizing they both feel the same, Caitlin and Wells work to find a way to control her icy powers. Snowells!
1. Prologue

**Prologue: True Disaster**

 **Caitlin**

I frown and rub my hands together. Despite the power-inhibiting bracelets, my fingers feel half-frozen, and an irresistible shiver seems to rack my body every few minutes. I just can't seem to get warm these days no matter what I do. Sometimes I wonder how much of that is my power fighting to get free and my foolishly doomed attempts to press it back down, and how much of that sinking, awful feeling has more to do with my heartsick emotional state. Maybe some of the physical discomfort is a result of my psychological distress and unease.

I can think about all this and analyze it as a scientist, half-detached and staring down at myself with critical scrutiny. But science doesn't provide me with the comfort it once did. It seems instead to reinforce my worst fears about myself: that I'm pretty much crazy. And totally, just in general, screwed.

Everyone else in Star Labs is downstairs listening to Joe and Wally argue about whether the latter is mature enough to be a superhero for the billionth time (or at least, it feels like that many recurrences). God, why do we all feel the need to keep battling against what is totally inevitable? Wally's obviously going to become Kid Flash no matter how terrified it makes Joe. Maybe Barry, in all his impetuous whimsy, is the most honest of us all. After all, he follows his heart and his instincts no matter what, but the consequences are so heavy that it makes everything seem like a no-win scenario. Be yourself, be true to what you really need to be happy, and risk ruining life for everyone around you.

Ironically, I was never much of a pessimist, despite my run of _incredibly_ bad luck (yup, that's putting it lightly). Even now, grappling with two impossible quandaries — what to do about my growing powers, and how to deal with the feelings I have for a certain unattainable someone — I carry a spark of hope in my heart. I think about how much I love my friends, how much I love my work. I think about the way his arms felt around me right before he left. A rock in the middle of a hurricane-swept ocean that surrounded me for miles.

"Cait, you okay?" Cisco asks the question even though the weight of sadness in his own eyes rivals mine. He takes the time to check on me when his impeccable best-friend instincts tell him I'm feeling overwhelmed and stressed. I smile and say I'm okay, that I just want to be alone, up here staring out the window over Central City, when in reality, I'm more than half-wishing I was a whole world away.

I can confide in Cisco about my fears of the icy strength running through my veins and threatening to burst forth at any moment and snap these stupid bracelets off like the foolish contrivances they are. But as far as that other issue that's clouding my mind, I can't bring myself to put words to such jumbled and desperate emotions. How long can I go on like this? _As long as I have to_ , the answer comes back from the logical part of my brain. _Caitlin Snow, the brilliant scientist_. Sigh.

Kindly leaving me to my solitary musings, Cisco heads back into the fray. I linger at the window for a few more minutes, wondering what's going on in that whole other world.

Where is Dr. Harrison Wells of Earth 2, and what is he doing right now?

Does he ever think of me?

And what would he possibly think or say if he knew I was helplessly in love with him?


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Prince of Nothing Charming**

 **Wells**

"Dad?" Jessie waves her hands in front of me like she's worried that she's suddenly gone invisible. A quip about how fast she'd have to run to achieve that goal dies on my tongue before it fully forms. I'm getting distressingly low on quips lately.

"Sorry, honey," I say to my daughter, who crosses her arms over her red costume and taps her foot impatiently. An impatience that I can't even begin to judge her for. It runs in the family.

I take my glasses off, rub my eyes, find that this act does nothing to assuage my emotional exhaustion, cloak my mood with the pretense of _physical_ exhaustion, put them back on, and continue with the conversation.

"I know you're tired Dad," Jessie observes, pacing, "We all are. But this latest meta isn't giving us any time to rest. I'm wondering if we can use that formula you came up with to take our new weapon idea and turn it into a reality."

"Yeah, I think it's time," I say, snapping out of my few-minutes-long reverie and getting my game face on. There's no time to think about my own problems when all of Star City is at risk from a flash fire-causing meta with pyromaniacal tendencies bad enough to give Heat Wave pause.

Jessie and I get down to what we do best: sciencing our way to a perfect solution, saving the Central City of Earth 2 from the continued fall-out of the meta's emergence and Zoom's reign of terror. She jots down numbers and figures while I piece the weapon together, ideally constructed to provide the oppositional jolt of energy needed to stop…whatever this new guy's name was.

It's moments like this, realizing we never even gave the fiery villain tearing the city apart a damn nickname, that I actually miss Cisco Ramon from Earth 1. I chortle to myself at the thought.

But there's missing someone you begrudgingly, yet with your whole heart regard as a true friend, and then there's missing that other someone who has a very different type of hold on your heart and soul. The kind of hold that, no matter hard you try to shake off the near-constant thoughts of her, you just can't because it's not humanly possible.

I remember the first moment I realized I was in love with Caitlin Snow, back on Earth 1. We were working late into the night at the lab, and sharing a growing sense of excitement over the success our collaboration was yielding. More than once, more than made any sense to me at the time, our shoulders were brushing, our fingers accidentally crossing paths as we pointed or typed or wrote a hurried note. Then we solved the problem and protected Star City. Again. It never got old.

Caitlin cried out, "Yes!" with ineffable glee and pride, leaping from her chair to give me an unexpected hug. At first, for just a beat, my arms stayed stiffly by my side, my normal and typical reaction to physical affection. I liked to keep myself cut off from that sort of thing, considered myself totally aloof from most human frailty.

Yeah, I know I'm a total idiot. A genius, yes, but also an idiot.

Then the feel of Caitlin, the warmth and softness of her, her scent, her breath, her rapid heartbeat against me, the sensation of her body so unbelievably close to my own, took me over, and before I knew what happened, my arms were wrapped around her in return. From the loud triumph of our success, we lapsed into a strange quiet. The embrace lasted a little longer than it should have. We pulled back with perhaps a shared understanding that neither one of us wanted to, and it was sudden and heady and insatiably intense.

She looked deep into my eyes like it was the first time she was really seeing me, and I thought about stroking her cheek with my thumb, letting it drift down to her lips, tracing their beautiful lines, slipping between them to open them just a tiny bit. I thought about sliding my hand to the back of her neck, lowering my mouth to hers and kissing her like my life depended on it and the world was about to end.

But I didn't. Why didn't I?

I've thought about little else since I forced myself to come back home, pushed by the belief that I needed to be responsible for my own world and the fallout of events that were certainly in large part my fault, a chaos only I could help tame. But that wasn't all.

I had to get away from her. She'd just had her heart torn to pieces by "Jay Garrick," aka Hunter Zolomon's, betrayal, she was traumatized by her kidnapping, and surely she didn't return my feelings, or why had she been with Jay in the first place? She must have loved him, right?

Right?

God, this was haunting me. Her gorgeous, kind, brilliant eyes were searing into my memories nonstop. I couldn't bear to stay on Earth 1 by her side, too afraid to voice my feelings and too tortured by unrequited longing to ever feel comfortable with the situation.

So here I am.

And then a funny thing happens. Jessie stares daggers at the board where she's been scribbling her equations. "Ugh! Dad, I can't solve this. There's only one person who can get their mind around connecting the equation with the device. Someone with the background in both neuroscience and technology to fully conceptualize the effect we need to create on the meta."

"We need Caitlin," I realize, my heart seeming to stop and start again in the space of a breath.

"We've gotta open up a breach," Jessie determines, totally wrapped up in her own determination to crack the case, clueless as to my inner struggle and the mixture of terror and joy that's flooding me at the thought of seeing Caitlin again.

"We're going to Earth 1," I announce.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:** **Everything is Embarrassing**

 **Caitlin**

When the electric blue light splits the world apart and blossoms before our eyes out of nowhere, it startles me so much that I drop my chopsticks on the floor and almost choke on my veggie lo mein. An unusually boring afternoon in the lab just got a welcome jolt of excitement!

"Whoa, what the _what_?" Cisco inquires of the universe as two figures leap from the breach between worlds. It's Jessie…and Harrison Wells. I stand, wipe my shaking fingers with a napkin that I crumple in a brief release of frantic tension. I plaster a big, welcoming smile on my face.

Cisco frowns, and at the same time that I begin a warm greeting, he demands to know, "Didn't you say we had to stop opening these breaches, or we risk damaging…you know, everything? _Everywhere_?"

Wells does a double-take at Cisco's question and seems to avoid my eyes (or is it just my imagination?), smoothly replying, "I feel like you weren't always this grumpy, Ramone. I mean, grumpy is supposed to be _my_ whole thing. And it's nice to see you again, too."

Jessie shrugs the whole thing off and strides forward to give us all a hug. Barry and Joe come walking in and join in the love-fest, foisting unwanted hugs on Harry as well.

"Ramone," Wells explains, evading a back-clap from Barry with hilarious precision, "I was going to get my breath back before I explained this to you, but given your gloomy proclamations, you might find it reassuring to know that I've developed a safer and cleaner way to create breaches when they're needed for extreme situations."

"If we didn't need your help for a really good reason, we wouldn't be here," Jessie adds, like it's _so_ obvious.

 _Thanks, Jessie, I figured that one out._ I'm sure if Wally happened to be in the room, he'd be super-flattered by her remark as well. Jeez, this situation is adding barbed edges to my thoughts here, there, and everywhere! _Get a handle on yourself, Caitlin!_

H.R. comes in with a drumstick in one hand and his ubiquitous coffee in the other, simply stating, "Hey Handsome!" to his doppelganger with his typical sprightly, anything-goes demeanor that couldn't be more different from Harrison's cautious, suspicious, serious nature. Yet, I've seen flashes and glimmers of the vulnerable, funny, affectionate, hopeful side to my Wells that I wish I could see more of.

 _My_ Wells? Oh boy, I'd better quit this line of thinking before my face turns beet red. I brush one finger casually against my hot cheek with an icy finger and flinch. Too late. I'm definitely blushing. But I can get past this, right?

 _Just don't think about that stuff when Wells is around!_

I toss my hair slightly, trying to build my confidence back up to a normal level as I casually ask, "So, clean breaches, huh? That could have some seriously beneficial applications. How do you open one up?"

Now he has to look at me, so he does, and with one locking of our eyes, every single romantic or sexual thought I've ever had about Harrison Wells comes flickering back across my mind so fast and furious that I feel my cheeks go from hot to fiery. It's a welcome break from feeling cold all the time, but its cause is definitely awkward as can be.

"Uh," he replies, stepping closer and brandishing a shiny new remote control device I've never seen, "it has to do with adjusting the — you know, let me tell you guys about the breaches later. If we don't get control over the meta wreaking havoc back in _our_ Star City, there might not be a Star City to get back to."

"Got it," I reply, and it comes out terse and cold. I didn't mean it to. There she is again. Killer Frost.

 **Wells**

What am I _doing_? I didn't even hug her when we came back just now. I hugged everyone else except Ramone, who seems quite prickly of late, and sure, the hugs were forced on me, and I'm not even a goddamned hugger. I had a chance to get my arms around Caitlin Snow again, but now it's gone. And she seems to be avoiding my gaze every time I let it "casually" rest on her and make myself yank it away before it seems to stay on her too long. Why?

It's like she's more interested in breach technology than me, and why shouldn't she be? There's nothing but simple friendship and comradery between us, of course. Everywhere except in my own twisted mind.

I wrest control of my uncharacteristic mess of nerves and get back on task. Canvassing ideas with Jessie and Caitlin, we come to a much better, more efficient solution for subduing our fiery foe.

Jessie is all gung ho immediately about going back to try out the device, and though I prepare to go with her, she stops me. "No, Dad, stay for a while. Be with your friends. I got this."

It's almost like she sees right through every hidden wish I've got, which would be really, really, _really_ bad, and I'm glad she's just concerned about my total lack of a life back on Earth 2. These people on Earth 1, maybe they'd never have become my friends if crazy happenstance hadn't thrust us together, but now they feel like family, and this feels like home in a lot of ways it logically shouldn't. I don't want to leave…I wonder if I ever want to leave.

I mutter to Jessie, out of the others' earshot, "They don't need me. You do."

"That's where you're wrong, Dad," she assures me with a smirk, matching my quiet tone. "They do need you, and guess what? You need them too. Come back when you're ready, if you're ready. We can go back and forth more often now. Who knows how much you can perfect this new breach technology? Maybe you can work on that with Caitlin and Cisco while you're here!"

I play it like the idea of perfecting my newest invention is the real motivation for sticking around and watch Jessie return home with continued amazement at her casual confidence and near-flawless understanding of the personal and the emotional, two aspects of life that have always baffled me.

"Glad to have you with us a little longer," Barry says warmly. "We're all headed to Jitters, why don't you come with? Iris will be happy to see you, too."

"I'll be there in a bit," I reply with a tight smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I'd just glimpsed something that gave me pause. They all leave, but luckily, she's the last to make her departure. I touch her shoulder lightly to get her to stay.

 **Caitlin**

I don't jump through the roof, and for that, I respect myself for the first time since I saw him again. "Can I talk to you?" Wells asks the question in a low, sexy voice that gives me more jitters than a thousand trips to our favorite local coffee shop.

"Yeah," I say with a shrug, "What's up?"

He leads me to a couple of chairs, his expression serious, pondering something. Surprising me again, he touches my wrist, turning it slightly in his hand.

"What's going on with the bracelets? And that's not all, I saw something, some kind of power…emitting from your fingers a minute ago. Whatever it is the bracelets are meant to be suppressing, it's slipping through."

Oh, my God. My life has enough dramatic irony and situational metaphor to power a romance novel or two. Yeah, something I'm trying to suppress is showing anyway, alright. That, and the ice powers, too.

"Things've changed since the last time we saw each other," I explain, looking down at our hands, his fingers still lightly examining the bracelet, running downward to touch my palm, all the way to my fingertips until my whole body is tingling from wishing he'd never stop touching me.

"I've got the same powers as my Earth 2 self, Killer Frost," I explain, as he says her name in unison with me.

"But you never exhibited powers after the particle accelerator explosion," Wells says, perplexed.

"Flashpoint," I explain grimly, alluding to the changes caused to so many lives by Barry's alteration of the timeline.

"And you can't control the powers," Harrison guesses, based on the bracelets I'm wearing. I nod.

"They're extremely potent. They take over my whole self, until I can't even control my need to use them to get whatever I want. The powers almost seem to lock into my Id, whatever impulses give them the opportunity to come out. I gave into them once, a while back, and caused a lot of trouble." I'm still sheepish at the memory. "After that, I put these back on for good. We've been trying to find a way to get rid of, or at least control, the powers without these, but so far, nothing."

"Who's we?" Wells leans back in his chair, releasing his hold on me and propping his chin in his hand.

"Me, my mom, Cisco, everyone…"

"Except me," he adds with an arrogant smile tinged with knowledge of his own ego's ridiculous extents.

"Well, I couldn't exactly consult you about it, what with the whole, we live in two different worlds thing and all," I answer matter-of-factly, and he leans forward again.

"Maybe you couldn't before, but I'm here now, and Caitlin—" His way-too-bright, far too beautiful blue eyes shine with purpose and some variation of affection I can't quite figure out. "You and me are going to figure this out."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Room for 2**

 **Caitlin**

Right, so I can do this. I can totally, _so_ do this. It's not weird at all. Why wouldn't I be able to do this?

Conflict of interest? Confusing as hell? Sure, but I'm all in. I am going to work with Harrison Wells until we find a way to control these powers of mine. Because that is the thing that I need to do.

I can't live my life in these absurd shackles, always terrified that the next time I lose my temper, I'm going to turn into a white-haired, blue-lipped ice diva intent on getting what I want and freezing any poor souls who get in the way. Here's my chance to figure it all out, because no one is better at this than we are when we put our heads together.

Standing in front of him, I'm just so excited to be around Wells again that I'm all in a tizzy, but I try to play it off like I'm all revved up to get training and try to solve my issues with my powers. "So," I say brightly, "How should we start?"

 **Wells**

I can't believe I'm really here, really with her. All those weeks of thinking about her and it's come down to this somehow. The moment feels super-real.

"I think we'd better start with you taking those off," I announce, nodding to her bracelets.

"Is that such a good idea?" Caitlin wonders. "I could hurt you."

"Snow, first of all, are you really questioning me on the first suggestion I come out with?"

"And second of all?" She asks the question with a sly little half-smile, her brown eyes glittering with determination mixed with humor, her cheeks slightly flushed, her seductively full lips distracting me so much that I'm annoyed with myself for it.

"Second of all, I don't care if you hurt me," I say with characteristic confidence, crossing my arms expectantly.

"You can say that now and sound all heroic, but it'll be a different story if I turn you into a Wells-icle."

"I wasn't really going for heroic," I explain, "I was just going for, 'I'm your friend, and I'm here for you.'" She breaks into a full, sincere smile that threatens to burst my heart, and reality feels just a little too real for me again.

She takes the bracelets off with two clicks and places them on the desk beside her.

Immediately, icy vapors start to drift from her fingers and her eyes flash a pure, pale blue, momentarily and irrepressibly glorying in her freedom.

Caitlin takes a deep breath, steadying herself. The tips of her brown hair start to shift in color, morphing gradually into a bright white shade as her lips change to a deep blue. She closes her eyes and breathes again. Her hair and mouth go back to normal, but the vapors are still unfurling from her hands, which she changes into fists.

"Alright, so you have some measure of control," I note, circling her, thinking. Impressed by her strength but not surprised.

"It's shaky, and it can go at any moment," she explains. "My whole body feels like an ice cube, and that just makes me want to go full Killer Frost more than anything. Plus, I start to feel all my…baser instincts creeping back up to the surface. That little voice in my head telling me to give in."

"Snow, you don't have baser instincts," I murmur, taking her hands in my own. It's a bold move, and my fingers and palm immediately feel flashes of deep pain, like touching dry ice. I flinch slightly but hold my ground.

"Harry, you can't do that," she pleads, making to step back and break the physical contact between us.

"Sure I can," I reply, even though it hurts like hell. I'll take it, if it gets her where she needs to go. "I'm giving you a reason to try really hard to stop freezing something. Stop freezing my hands, Snow. You can do it."

The streams of icy power that feel like sharp teeth coated in venom sinking into my flesh start to disappear, then reassert themselves. She shakes her head, the white hair and blue lips making a temporary reappearance as well, then receding with the pain in my hands.

"I can't stop it. I can't stop _her_!" Caitlin almost had it, but she's losing faith.

"Try harder," I urge her, but she rips her hands from my grasp and backs up rapidly.

"We have to stop this experiment!" she demands, furious with me, furious with herself, a general grab-bag of anger and frustration. Beautiful and tempestuous.

"No, we don't," I reply, moving towards her and gently sliding the bracelets away from her reaching hands. I sit down on top of the desk and remind her, "We're just getting started, Snow."

 **Caitlin**

He's crazy. I adore him. He's out of his mind.

"I won't risk hurting you, hurting anyone. I'd rather wear these for the rest of my life!" I know I'm shouting, I know I'm shaking, but right now, I'm incapable of caring. That is _so_ not me. He's seeing my at my most vulnerable, stripped down to a point that scares me.

"That's all well and good, until your powers build up to the point that no inhibiting device is going to hold them back," Wells observes with common sense that somewhat infuriates me.

"Obviously," I answer, rolling my eyes and hating the childishness of the reaction. "Cisco and I can modify the bracelets as needed over time."

"Until that stops working," Wells predicts grimly. He stands and comes way too close, speeding my sore heart up immediately. "Why should you have to live like that, Caitlin? Tied to these bracelets, living in fear, never knowing when your powers are going to surge beyond their control and what will happen as a result? You shouldn't have to live like that."

He cups my chin lightly in his hand and so, _so_ gently urges me to meet his startling, gorgeous eyes. There's delicious pain throbbing through me from his sweetly considerate touch and my answering desire.

His fingers are as ice cold as my own, feeling the effects of our dangerous contact.

"I won't let you live like that," he finishes quietly, dropping his fingers. Not so fast, Wells.

 _Not after everything you just said._

I take his hands and, feeling again what I've done to him, I automatically start to rub them, like I have any ability to bring warmth back. Of course, I don't. The motion does nothing but send a thrill coursing through my body as I boldly shift the motion from a doctorly one to more of a caress. His surprise registers in his eyes, but he says nothing. Unreadable as ever.

"This isn't helping," I say, my voice coming out a little ragged. "I should get you some ointment from the med kit."

"I'm fine," Wells assures me, lacing his fingers through mine and drawing me just a little closer. Close enough to make breathing a challenge.

"I missed you," I whisper, meeting his eyes in a gaze that feels embracing. I let another admission slip through my armor of pride and uncertainty. "I needed you."

I love his face, so full of intelligence, the sweetheart hiding behind the prickly veneer, the shape of his sensuous lips, how adorkably sexy his glasses are. His jet black hair and matching, uniform-like daily black t-shirts and black jeans. Accentuating his every feature with a natural, easy handsomeness I've tried to ignore with failure since the day we met, since our working relationship quickly revealed a person so completely different from the fake Wells played by Eobard Thawne that frankly, I couldn't even see the resemblance anymore.

I love him.

My head is spinning as his dips toward me, time shifting from normal to slow motion as he closes the last gap between us in a light, fluttery kiss.

And just like that, I don't feel so cold anymore.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:** **Not afraid anymore**

 **Wells**

Oh, no. Wait! What did I just do? _Shit!_

Surely she can't want this, wasn't expecting me to kiss her like that, out of nowhere, like a cretinous moron, taking advantage of her confidence and trust. She came to me in her time of need and this is how I repay her, by being totally thoughtless, heedless of anything but my own ill-advised desires and wishes.

"I'm so sorry," I say, raising my hands up like a criminal surrendering to the police. I can't look at her anymore, so I just turn and leave, incapable of thinking of anything further to say that wouldn't make a bad situation even worse.

That seems to be what I'm good at, after all.

I'm rushing through the lab doors to get the hell out of there as I hear her call, in a kind of shock, "Wells?" A pause. " _Wells!"_ She can't entirely despise me if she's calling me to come back instead of cursing me out. A silver lining I won't tarnish by sticking around. In fact, I wish a breach would open up in front of me right now and save me.

Of course, once I get outside, where it is, _naturally,_ mercilessly, freezing cold, I know I've got no idea where the hell I'm going. I _have_ nowhere to go. When I'm on Earth 1, I crash at the lab. The lab is my home. I certainly can't go to Jitters and seek advice from "the gang. Their sympathy and weirded out reactions would make me feel even worse.

 _Fuck._

She finds me a half hour later at Big Belly Burger, alone in a booth in the back, a full mug of black coffee sitting untouched in front of me. I wish I could sink into this booth and disappear, but no such luck. If I had to describe her expression, I'd go with, _annoyed._

"Thought I'd find you here," Caitlin remarks, sliding into the booth seat in front of me. She's still clad in her Star Labs sweatpants and t-shirt, a winter coat thrown haphazardly over her "training" garb, the bracelets back in place. Her hair tumbles in glossy, blonde-strewn brunette waves over both shoulders, and her lips, pressed together in an unspoken question, are as tempting as ever.

"Where else?" My attempt at humor is pathetic and I brush it aside, jumping straight into my next apology. "Caitlin, I am _so_ sorry. I don't know what you must think of me. That will never happen again."

"Harry," she begins, but I cut her off, continuing my tirade, needing to get this off my chest.

"I know that we're friends, we're colleagues, we could never be anything more, and I'm too old for you," Now I'm gesturing wildly with my hands, "and, and, and you're too young for me, and I _never_ should have kissed you, and…" I get overwhelmed with the cacophonous sound of my own rambling in my ears, so useless and absurd. "And…I'm sorry."

She smiles, like maybe forgiveness is on the horizon. I'm saved! But the annoyance has yet to leave her eyes.

"Are you done?" She asks me, crossing her arms.

" _And_ , it will never happen again." I feel like restating this is important and helpful.

" _Now_ are you done?"

"Yes," I reply sheepishly, praying to some heretofore presumed nonexistent God for redemption.

"Terrific." Her tone is dry and blunt. She grabs my hand and yanks me up, leading me outside with just barely enough time for me to toss a few Earth 1 dollars on the table for the coffee and tip.

We're just a few steps out the door when she leads me to the nearest brick wall and presses me against it, her body so insanely close that I can't seem to get my breathe back. And I'm still wondering what she could possibly be doing when she pulls me even closer and claims my mouth in a searing kiss.

 **Caitlin**

I don't know if I've ever been quite this reckless before.

It's everything I imagined it might be and more, the feeling of his lips on mine, his hands on my body. Something in my brash removal of every pretense aside from what we both want has liberated us.

Wells melts into my embrace and slips his hands under my jacket, running them up and down my figure, finding the bottom edge of my t-shirt and pushing it upward so he can touch my skin, his movements so perfectly skilled, every single hot, relentless kiss combining with them to tear me splendidly to pieces.

Somehow, I've gotten inside his defenses at last, and he's surrendered, becoming perfectly and purely shameless in his actions, bold in a way I've only ever fantasized about.

His lips brush my ear as he murmurs, "Do you wanna get out of here?"

My eyes lock with his, and the intense passion between us is heavy in the air. "Of course I do," I breathe, and soon we're hand in hand, heading for my apartment.

It's a mad stumble through the door, which I laughingly slam shut by backing into it while Wells resumes reinventing the art of kissing and unraveling me. We slip out of our coats and they fall to the floor.

He's lowered me onto the couch and I'm reaching up to take off his shirt, to run my hands over his stomach and chest. He shivers and groans.

"Sorry," I whisper, pulling my hands back slightly, sure my frosty cold charms have reasserted themselves to make me just _so_ unsexy at that moment.

"It's not that you're cold," Wells reassures me, "it's that you're driving me crazy." He kisses me again in a way that leaves me in no doubt of his sincerity, and my hips rise to grind against him, the friction immediately making us both cry out slightly in arousal.

"Oh my God," I can't help but moan at the sensation, the heat at my core intensifying.

"I know," he says hoarsely in my ear, making me weaker by the moment, "I wanted this for so long. I thought it was just me."

"It's," I reply, biting his neck lightly, "not." I pluck his glasses off and place them lovingly on the coffee table beside us. Next to our phones, which right then both light up and buzz.

"Oh, no," Harrison growls, while I sit up and place my hands against his chest, breathing heavily.

" _No!_ " I agree, as our eyes both flit over to where Cisco's Meta App is blazing on our phones, as continuous calls and texts from the team flood in.

"They're not going to leave us alone," I state, and we both know it's true. There's a case, there's danger, there's trouble, and we're needed right now.

I toss him his t-shirt and wink flirtatiously, reaching for my coat on the floor. "Just don't think you're getting off that easily," I assure him.

"Just how _are_ you going to be getting me off?" He grins naughtily.

"Harrison Wells!" I cry in mock astonishment as he pulls me close again. I downright giggle, blushing furiously. "We have to go."

There's a sadness in his eyes that I can't figure out the meaning of right then, a sudden change. "Yeah, I know. I just don't ever want to forget this. _This,_ right here, right now." Our foreheads meet and before we go, I brush one more kiss against his irresistible mouth.

"Me neither."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:** **Everything has changed**

 **Wells**

It's an easy enough fix before Barry has conquered the latest villain, with word also coming back from Earth 2 that our collaboration on the new weapon has helped Jessie to save the day in the _other_ Star City as well.

A day of victories, but for me, nothing else matters but her.

We're wrapping up the work for the night, _again_ , Cisco and H.R. helping out as the latter keeps giving me a weird look.

"What's the deal with that guy?" I ask Caitlin under my breath.

She looks up from her laptop and grins, stabbing my heart with happiness and disbelief that this is really happening between us.

"Well, for one thing," she shrugs lightly, "He's gorgeous."

I roll my eyes and groan, half-annoyed. "Come on!"

"It's not my fault," she winks, going back to her typing.

Cisco's busy on the other side of the room, and H.R. comes sidling over, a conspiratorial glint in his eyes. He adjusts his ridiculous hat — what is with the way this guy dresses, anyway? — and addresses us in a murmur.

"So, this is happening, huh?" He points his finger back and forth between Caitlin and myself. "Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?" H.R. smiles widely and nods, impressed with his own ingenuity, one quality of his I do understand all too well. "By the way, I'm not sure how that's making _me_ feel. It's kind of confusing, you know?" He pauses and strokes his chin in thought. " _Kind_ of turned on? Is that weirding you guys out at all?"

"You _cannot_ be serious," I say accusingly stepping towards H.R. with a distinct instinct to smack him upside the head.

"I-we have no idea what you're talking about," Caitlin replies distractedly, standing up beside me and placing a halting hand on my arm, then dropping it quickly, looking around the lab like everyone else has suddenly reappeared and might be listening in, which is of course, not the case. She clears her throat nervously.

I cross my arms and glare at H.R. but he raises his hands in a peace-making gesture.

"Guys, guys! I'm not gonna tell anyone! What do you take me for? _I get it_! This is new, this is…vulnerable and exciting, and keeping it a secret is also _making_ it exciting, and—" H.R. is so bubbly with glee right now that it's frankly nauseating.

"If he doesn't shut up, I'm going to punch him," I warn, and Caitlin smothers a giggle.

"Thanks, H.R.," she says simply, to which he absurdly points between us and himself in an "I-can-keep-a-secret" gesture before returning to whatever exactly it is he _does_ around here.

She steps into the elevator with me a few moments later and as soon as the doors close, our lips crash together, my hands running through her hair, tracing the lines of her supple body, the curve of her breasts enticing under my palm as she moans and returns the torturous favor by sliding her fingers in a direct line down from my hips. My breath catches and, as the doors open, we both yank ourselves back into a pathetic facade of normalcy.

"How long do you think we can keep this under wraps?" I wonder, and she smiles expectantly at me, inquisitive.

"I don't know. How long are you staying?" There's a softness in her eyes that conflicts with the lightness of her tone.

I open my mouth to tell her I'll be wherever she wants me to be as long as she wants me to be there. All I want is for her to tell me I can stay here, _with her_.

But the moment is disastrously interrupted by the cold, hollow voice of Doctor Alchemy, materializing in back of us out of nowhere and hissing, "Caitlin Snow, you are attempting to deny your destiny. It is time you became one with your powers, as you know you must."

"Get away from her," I demand, stepping forward, but Alchemy knocks me aside like I'm a rag doll and cackles humorlessly.

"Julian, you don't know what you're doing!" Caitlin cries out, and Alchemy nods.

"No, he doesn't," he confirms, knocking her out with the slightest of motions. I'm back on my feet rushing towards them, but another casual movement of Alchemy's hand sends me tumbling into blackness.

 **Caitlin**

I wake up panting, strapped to a chair, in a typical enough abandoned warehouse, Alchemy stalking around me in a circle. "What's next, a villain's monologue?" I smirk haughtily at Alchemy, hiding my fears, trying instead to think about how this whole scenario would have Cisco making Bond movie references. If I'm amused, I can't be panicked, right?

Well, in theory.

"Caitlin Snow, you will embrace your powers. You will become Killer Frost once again, as you were always meant to. Savitar will have it no other way."

"Give me a break," I practically spit, straining against my bindings in frustration. "I don't care what either one of you want. I'm not Killer Frost and I never will be again."

Savitar appears, a dark, shining form, shimmering in and out of phase before my eyes. His savagely evil visage bears down on me as he decrees, "You _will_ become her, for she is who you were always meant to become."

I decide not to complain about his repetitive phrasing.

I look left, I look right. I try to think my away out of this one and come up empty, which is pretty unusual for me. There may not _be_ a way out of this.

 _Uh-oh…_

 **Wells**

Obviously, the rest of the team and myself are en route to Caitlin's location within minutes of my regaining consciousness. Terror-stricken and infuriated by my inability to protect her, I fume as we track Caitlin's cell phone. Barry sets off at once, the rest of us following at a vehicular pace I've never found so utterly agonizing.

When we get to the warehouse, Barry's holding off Savitar and Alchemy by the skin of his teeth, and there's little else for the rest of us to do but cause distractions so that Cisco can get to Caitlin and release her. She's free amidst the scuffle, but Barry is struggling to hold the villains off. When Alchemy throws Cisco out of the way and grabs Caitlin again, she elbows him hard in the stomach and stomps on his foot with all her might, and I rush forward to shoot him with a tranq from my laser rifle.

That takes care of Alchemy, but Savitar growls and hits me so hard that I almost miss getting my ass handed to me by Alchemy. As I struggle to stay conscious, I see a flash of blue-white light in my periphery and hear Barry shout, "Caitlin, no!"

Rolling from my back to my stomach, I squint, my glasses shattered a few feet away. Where Caitlin stood, Killer Frost is now standing, her hands held upward, icy fumes flowing out from her fingertips in thick waves. She glares at Savitar, a look of total hatred twisting her blue lips.

Before launching her attack on him, she says simply, "You really shouldn't have done that."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:** **Not for the faint of heart**

 **Killer Frost**

Finally. Yes. I am _free_!

I close my eyes, centering myself blissfully and unleashing a plague of ice, snow, and freezing vapors absolutely _everywhere,_ except where Wells is lying after being attacked by Savitar.

 _Savitar._ Savitar has to die.

Temporarily immobilized by my attack, Savitar and Alchemy look pathetic, stuck in place just as Barry, Joe and Cisco are. Too bad about the collateral damage, but does it really matter? I'm utterly focused on Savitar, on Alchemy. I will crush them like the pathetic insects they are, and I will enjoy it.

They thought they knew power, could choose who would wield it and why, on their terms?

I will not be manipulated by such fools. The mere thought makes me laugh, and I hear the sound of it echoing in the suddenly silent warehouse. It's a satisfying sound, let me tell you, after all that repression and months of being smothered, Caitlin trying to hold me back, her friends all too willing to help keep the freak at bay. What a joke.

"Caitlin," Harrison says simply, rising to his feet and approaching me without an ounce of fear in his eyes. That's why…I love him. Huh. I guess Caitlin's emotions are sort of bleeding through to me, because it's true that…I'd do anything for Harrison Wells.

"Well, hello, lover," I grin flirtatiously, reeling back the icy tendrils that have been lingering around my hands. "Or soon-to-be-lover, anyway."

"I know Caitlin's in there," Harry insists, getting closer than anyone else'd have the nerve to. His confidence isn't because he's sure I won't hurt him. It's that, just like he said, he doesn't care. He's there for me (us, her?) no matter what.

And he knows that there's pleasure in pain.

"You're damn right," I confirm, running my hand over his cheek. "See, I am Caitlin, and Caitlin is me. I'm Caitlin with no structure, no fear, no hyper-moral suffocation. I'm a purer version of her, but I promise you, I'm much dirtier." I wink to set that point off, but Harrison doesn't smile. He's…analyzing me. "I'm Caitlin filled to the brim with power and the will to use it to get whatever I want."

"You're a _version_ of Caitlin, a variation," Harry agrees finally, "but you aren't completely Caitlin. That much is obvious. Her values and her selflessness, those features are part of what define her entire self. Take that away, replace it with power-lust, and you're left with mere fragments of Caitlin."

"First of all," I reply smoothly, covering up an inner flinch of an insecurity only he could cause, "It makes me so hot when you talk geeky to me. And as you've no doubt noticed, it takes a lot to get _me_ hot."

"Caitlin," he begins again but I cut him off.

"Killer Frost," I correct him, but he shrugs me off.

"Put the bracelets back on," Wells says, and it isn't a request. So bossy. I like that in a man.

"Hmm…no," I reply lazily, whipping another batch of deadly power up in my hands, preparing to launch it at Savitar and Alchemy. Barry, Joe, and Cisco, they'll recover within moments and be back to their usual selves, if a little chilly. But those who took me, tried to control me, those who hurt Wells, this day will be their last.

"You can't kill them," Harrison informs me softly, and I narrow my eyes at him. "Caitlin would never forgive herself."

"Well," I answer merrily, "I guess it's lucky that Caitlin's gone for good this time. She's more trouble than she's worth, that one. We'll have _much_ more fun without her around."

Harry is definitely not down for this suggestion. What a drag. "Am I going to have to _make_ you understand, baby?" I pout.

"No," he says gently, running a hand through my white hair and slipping the other around my waist. "I think I'm starting to see what you mean," and he presses his mouth to mine, so heedless of the danger inherent in doing that.

I can't help it; my eyes flutter shut and I surrender to the warmth of his lips, but then I hear a resounding click and blind rage seizes my heart. _He wouldn't_.

The bracelets are fastened around my wrists and he's not even looking remotely remorseful. I scowl and let out a shriek of rage and betrayal, but I can already feel myself being submerged, crushed, and Caitlin is….

 **Caitlin**

"Oh, God," I murmur, shaky, leaning on Wells and looking around in a panicked daze.

"We've got to get them out of here!" Harry proclaims hurriedly, and we both rush to help our friends. Barry recovers first and runs circles around the others to warm them until they are also conscious, though stumbling and as confused as I felt a moment ago.

Our defeat of Savitar and Alchemy is obviously going to have to wait for another day, so we head back to the lab where I run tests to make sure Cisco and Joe are okay, hating myself for what Killer Frost did. Barry shook it off in no time, but that was quite a blow I — _she_ — Killer Frost — cast on innocent bystanders.

But she didn't include Wells in her attack. That's weird. Right?

"Right?" I whisper to Wells a few minutes later. He pauses like he's trying to decide how to tell me something, paying far too much attention to repairing his glasses.

"It's actually not that weird," Harry explains, meeting my eyes at last. "She's a version of you. She shares some of your most prominent feelings, though she's unable to connect with your sense of right or wrong. The overwhelming power she constantly feels seems to make thinking about consequences… _not_ a priority."

"You're saying that Killer Frost…has _feelings_ for you? Protected you on purpose?" I frown. I have no idea how to feel about that, which almost makes me half-laugh, thinking of what H.R. said about Harrison and myself earlier.

"What are you thinking?" Wells asks, forgetting our admittedly flimsy attempts to conceal our relationship when we're at the lab, and taking my hand. I'm grateful for the reassuring pressure.

"I hate that we have anything in common, that she could take something from me and feel it herself. But I'm incredibly relieved that those feelings she fed off of, from inside of me, kept you safe."

"Cait," Harrison tells me, and I startle slightly. He's never called me that before. "No version of you could ever be pure evil. There is the potential for goodness inside Killer Frost. That comes from you as much as the way she acted towards me. If we could just figure out a way to somehow break down the divide between the two of you and make her subject to _your_ mind, we could solve this thing." He nods at my bracelets, which though uncomfortable, bring me such relief that I am seriously ready to never ever take them off again.

"I wouldn't even know where to start," I admit, too afraid to consider the possibility that there _is_ a solution to this awful situation. What if he's wrong?

"We'll work on it and we'll find a way," he assures me, pulling me into his arms for a hug that I dissolve into, sighing in exhaustion.

"Maybe we should stop this…you and me…before it goes any further," I suggest, pulling back slightly. The words hurt, but he deserves a chance to be free of me. "You don't have to feel obligated to…with how messed up I am and how much trouble I've caused…"

"Don't say that," Harry tries to tell me, but I need to.

"Listen," I explain, my voice quivering with emotion, "I took those bracelets off out of pure anger when I saw Savitar hit you, when I thought he might kill you. I didn't care about the consequences. Maybe, when it comes to you, I just can't. I guess Killer Frost isn't that far removed from the real me after all." Now I've voiced my worst fear, but he's still standing there.

"Are you trying to say it's too dangerous for us to be together because you turned into Killer Frost today?" Wells shakes his head. "Sure, she almost raged out of control, but she also, if you think about it, saved the day. Minus using her powers on the rest of the team, that is. She helped us when we were about to flat-out _lose_ that fight. I think if you can harness that power, get her under control, there's no limit to the good you can achieve with those abilities." I start to turn away, unable to summon the hope he's so invested in, and when I glance back, he gives me a pained smile that breaks my heart.

"Please don't push me away, Cait," He pleads, and I could fall into his blue eyes forever. Then he says, "I'll do whatever you want me to, I'll go back to Earth-2, I'll leave you alone, or I'll stay here and _love you_ , because I love you. And…I don't _want_ easy and uncomplicated. Let's face it, you're not a mess, there's nothing about you that isn't beautiful, but the same isn't true of me. So if you'll have me, I'm yours, and that's, that's—"

Before he can say anything else, I cut his words off with a kiss, unable to wait another minute. "There's your answer," I whisper tenderly.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: All for you**

 **Caitlin**

We sneak off to his room here at the lab and slip inside. It's dark and welcoming in its privacy, enclosing us as passion too long deferred surges. With every deep, arousing kiss, I'm forgetting my worries, letting them fade, allowing myself to be swept off my feet by Harrison Wells.

His bed is little more than a glorified slab, a perfunctory bunk only a formerly self-punishing spartan like Wells would find appealing. But I don't care about any comfort other than the feeling of his arms around me as we somehow, blindly make our way to the bed. He unzips the back of my gauzy blue sleeveless top, the one I was hoping he'd like, pulls it over my head as I straddle him, his hardness beneath me increasing my own desire, making me moan and bite my lip in anticipation.

Harrison's fingers linger at the front clasp of my pale pink bra as he asks me, his voice hoarse with a _wanting_ that matches my own, "Caitlin…are we going too fast? We've never even been on a date. I want everything to be perfect for you, the way you want it to be, the way you deserve."

I grin down at him and reply, "Would you like to go get dinner right now, _really_?"

"Good point," He gives in and slides me beneath him, kissing my neck, biting my skin lightly, his tongue flicking over my collar bone, as his fingers find my pants' button and ease it open, sliding the zipper down. His urgent stiffness increases under my hand when he feels the wetness at my core, stroking it gently through my underwear as I throw my head back and lose my breath.

" _This_ is what I want," I murmur in a voice he's managed to make into a purr with his attentions. "I think you can tell."

"Yes," he whispers, slowly, too slowly removing my bra and cupping my breasts, then with one hand fingering my nipples as his other returns to my aching, pleading lower region. When he lowers his mouth to my breasts and slides my underwear down, teasing me with one finger poised to enter me, I resort to begging.

"Please," I groan, overwhelmed by the erotic sensation of his tongue against my nipples as he gives into my plea and slides his finger into my moist center, my hips rising to urge him on, to let another finger take part. He clearly can't take the wait anymore patiently than I can at this point, having done everything he could to torture me deliciously with the promise of removing all further separation between us.

He throws my pants aside and yanks my panties off, heedless of trying to maintain a modicum of his gentlemanly caution. I remove his shirt and relish touching him, his irresistibly strong arms, his chest, pressing my mouth to his heart and then pulling his jeans off as he shivers with the feeling of my nails trailing down his back.

He enters me so easily, my body more than ready, slick and hot for him as he begins to move, slowly at first, tentative enough to return me to my previous mania of impatience. I utter a moaned syllable or two that sounds like gibberish to my own ears before managing, "don't stop," a request that causes him to thrust into me harder, more intensely, surrendering completely to what we both need.

Afterward, my head on his chest and his hands still clutching my stomach and hips in a way that gives me freshly mischievous thoughts despite being _completely_ out of breath, I ask him, "what are you thinking?"

 **Wells**

I laugh, admitting, "I'm thinking…what is she thinking?" My heart is pounding so hard right now I think I can hear it echoing all around us.

She props her chin up on one hand and smiles warmly. "I'm thinking…what took us so long?"

"Is that a real question?" I ask, and she nods. "Well, I spent quite a while believing that you just did not, and never _could_ , see me romantically. First, because I knew I was not the romantic type—"

"Oh, really? I beg to differ!" She playfully bats my shoulder.

"Okay, so I _thought_ I wasn't. And I was mad at myself for continuously having these thoughts about you, especially because you were with Jay…and then after he betrayed you so terribly, I thought what a jerk I would be to make any kind of move when you'd just had your heart broken."

"I wasn't in love with Jay. I definitely a little too busy falling in love with _you_ ," Caitlin admits. "At the time, I _wished_ I could be in love with Jay. He kept pursuing me, and he was so…or seemed so… _nice_ , like being with him would be simple and easy. And you were so…"

"Dark? Dangerous?" I smiled ruefully at the helpful adjectives. "Definitely _not_ nice."

"Pretty much," she admits, "but never underestimate the appeal of dark and dangerous, not when there's a good man underneath all that desperation."

"After the experience you had with the other me right before we met, I assumed you'd never trust me," I recall.

"You mean Thawne, but that wasn't you," Caitlin corrects me quickly. "A very wise person once told me, no version of you could be evil. That goes both ways, you know. As soon as I started to get to know you, saw the real you, I knew you had nothing in common with him."

I stroke her arms, her wrists, hating the bracelets now more than ever. It's like she can never relax, and no one deserved a break from the chaos and stress more than Caitlin.

"Don't worry about those," she reassures me, as if she's read my mind. "I'm not. We'll find a solution, or we won't, but I don't care about them right now."

"You are quite a woman, Snow," I marvel, and notice that her expression has become decidedly devilish.

"So tell me," she asks, "Just what were those _thoughts_ you were pondering months back, when you first fell for me? The seemingly forbidden thoughts you hid from me?"

"Oh," I smile playfully and realize, "I guess those thoughts aren't so forbidden anymore…"

"At all," Caitlin reminds me impishly.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I wink, but she's ready for that answer.

"Yes, I would," she says demandingly, fire in her eyes. She presses her bare body closer to my own and adds firmly, "show me."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Lucky now**

 **Caitlin**

The days sweep by in a mad rush. I'm carried along on a tide of bliss that seems to fuel my and Wells' work on controlling my powers. Every day, we work on my focus, my ability to take my body and mind back from Killer Frost, so that instead of a separate personality within me, she becomes a part of myself that works and functions using my conscience.

It's a slow process and with anyone else it would feel grueling, but not with him there to encourage me and brilliantly guide my progress.

One afternoon, I finally manage to merge with Killer Frost so that I can feel her will, wield her powers, yet control myself. My hair, instead of turning bright white, has remained its normal blondish brown, with subtle blue streaks shining through the strands. Killer Frost is here, but so am I. It's an empowering sensation, taking the reigns back.

"That's a pretty substantial amount of frosty prowess you're showing off there," Wells grins as I walk around the room, shedding whirls of ice and snow in a looping pattern.

"Why thank you, kind sir," I reply as he pulls me close to him.

"Any urges to commit crimes at the moment?" He murmurs, his fingers stroking the places on my wrists where the bracelets usually are, the sensitive skin prickling exquisitely under his touch.

"Aside from public indecency from how much I want you to lay me down on that counter over there, I'd have to say…no," I confirm happily. "This experiment has been a resounding success!"

"I knew you could do it," Harry says, touching my ice-cold cheek like it doesn't give him the slightest chill. Hopefully, with time, I'll be able to regulate my temperature better. I lean into his palm as he asks roguishly, "By the way, was that a challenge I heard?"

I giggle as he lifts me onto the counter and quickly forget to be amused as the feeling of his mouth on mine, his hands slipping under the back of my shirt, leaves me more than slightly breathless. "Challenge accepted, I take it?" I murmur huskily, sliding my legs around his hips as his fingers drift up my thigh.

"Always, Snow," he answers with perfect eloquence.

We hear a noise and jerk slightly apart, looking around.

"Hello?" I call out, and there's a pause before we hear Cisco's voice pop up faintly, from behind the door to this section of the lab, which is equipped with a window, I remember with a wince.

"Sorry!" Cisco shouts bluntly.

I quickly refasten my bra under my shirt and return my feet to the ground as Wells squeezes his eyes shut, trying to pretend our encounter hasn't been walked in on so awkwardly.

"Come in, Cisco," I call, deciding to deal with the situation head-on.

" _Although_ ," Cisco remarks, striding through the doors and crossing his arms accusingly, "It's really you two who should be apologizing to me. I will never be able to unsee that!"

"Okay, sorry," I relent, wincing in embarrassment. "I know this must come as something of a shock, too, and I'm sorry I never told you that—"

"That the two of you are dating?" Cisco laughs. "Playa, _please_. I've known about that for weeks. We all have."

"You…all…have?" Harrison asks in disbelief.

"H.R. spilled the beans!" I theorize, "I will give him a piece of my mind!"

"Mixed metaphors aside," Cisco interrupts my tirade, "H.R. didn't tell us. We all just figured it out on our own. There's been evidence for ages, like you know, how you, Harry, just mysteriously decided to stick around all this time instead of going back to Earth 2, and you never explained why. Or the way you guys have lost _all_ concept of personal space."

"Hmm?" I question, looking down at Wells and myself to examine our posture and realizing that we're practically in each others' laps. _Ahhh_ … _yup_.

"Whoops," Wells admits sheepishly.

"Ooorrr," Cisco adds dramatically, batting his eyelashes, "the puppy dog gazing you two are always doing at each other, _and_ the way you both never come to Jitters at night anymore and please _do not_ tell me what you've been doing because I don't want to know."

"I guess there's no keeping a secret around this crew," I sigh, shaking my head with a laugh as nervous energy sloughs off of me.

"What's the big deal anyway?" Cisco asks. "Did you think we were going to judge you for having an multiversal romance?"

"New term!" I congratulate him. "Well, aside from the _multiversal_ aspect…which we really haven't even discussed the potential ramifications of…" I realize, trailing off momentarily.

"What would your _kids_ be like?" Cisco exclaims in a nerd-tastic fit, " _Split-universe, Dual-Dimensional offspring_!" He says the words musically, accompanying them with jazz hands to convey his "Twilight Zone" themed effect.

I laugh, "You're getting a little ahead of us, Cisco. Maybe we just wanted to enjoy being us for a bit and see how it felt?" I exchange a glance with Wells and know in my heart that that's exactly it. Once the Star Labs crew found out about a relationship, it was fair game for well-meaning questions, innocent gossip, and all kinds of attention we hadn't been prepared for when first admitting our feelings.

"Cool, makes sense," Cisco agrees simply and significantly. Something about this conversation has put a sparkle back in his eyes that's been largely absent since Dante's death.

"Cait, I'm just so glad you're happy," he tells me. I guess having a perpetually stressed-out best friend was only adding to Cisco's own stress.

"And I'm happy to see you smiling again, too," I say, pulling him into a hug.

"Nice new highlights, by the way," Cisco says, pointing at my hair. I smile and twirl a blue-tinged tendril. "Can't help but notice your bracelets are missing. Does this mean you finally told Killer Frost where to go?"

"Yeah," I explain, "For now, it seems like she's at peace. Somewhere within me. Hope she stays there."

We all go to Jitters that night and sing bad karaoke — well, actually, Barry has a pretty good voice, but the rest of us are fairly dreadful. Looking around at all of my amazing friends reminds me what a remarkable and full life I have. Spinning around the dancefloor with Harry, who tries to get out of dancing, but then displays real skill, I feel the world shining with possibility. This is what happiness feels like.


End file.
